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Bristol, R.I. – On Saturday, Aug. 23, more than 1,200 new students will mark the official beginning of their academic journey at ��ܽ����Ƶ at the 2014 Convocation ceremony, an annual rite of passage for each year’s entering class that serves as a formal welcoming for new students and their families to the campus community.

The ceremony will kick off at 2 p.m. with a processional march led by Rhode Island Highlanders Pipe Band and followed by the national anthem performed by Drastic Measures, an all-student a cappella group. New students and their families will be greeted by fellow students as well as the University staff and faculty including the University president, provost and Student Senate president.

With all students dressed in regalia, Feinstein College of Arts and Sciences Dean Robert Eisinger will lead them in reciting the University’s Pledge of Academic Integrity, in which students promise to challenge each other, conduct themselves honorably and assist one another as they live and work together in mutual support.

University President Donald J. Farish says the Convocation ceremony is an ideal way to formally welcome students to their academic endeavors.

“I am pleased to welcome the Class of 2018 officially to the ��ܽ����Ƶ campus community as we come together to celebrate Convocation on Saturday and officially begin the new 2014-15 academic year,” he says. “As they embark on the start of their academic career, they will do so while surrounded by an enormously dedicated group of faculty and staff who approach every day with a student-first mindset.”

As students exchange goodbyes with friends and family members following the ceremony, Orientation and Weeks of Welcome activities will continue through the evening and beyond. And on Monday morning, the entire class will come together again for a full-immersion experience in community service, as they travel to locations across the state to assist community organizations with projects as part of Community Connections 2014.